More American icons who defy “You didn’t build this”

By Wilson
Updated 09/04/2012 | 4:30 PM EST

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Last week on radio, Glenn went into detail about how Harland Sanders built the behemoth Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise from the ground up – and he did it without a handout from the government. This morning on radio, he used another fast food icon to showcase American hard work and ingenuity: Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s.

“I want to tell you another story. This one happened July 2nd, 1932. Starts with an unwed mother. She gives birth to a son in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but it’s 1932. She’s unwed. You don’t have ‑‑ you’re you not a single parent unwed back in 1932. So she gives her son up for adoption. Mom and son never know each other. But it only takes about six weeks in those days to get the child adopted. A couple adopts this baby and names him Dave. Dave’s adopted mother dies when he’s 5 years old and his dad moves around the country just looking for work. Remember it’s the Great Depression.”

“At the age of 15, Dave drops out of high school and begins to work at a local restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He stayed behind when his dad continued to move around. His dad was desperate for any kind of employment and still couldn’t find it. Dave stays in Indiana. When the Korean War breaks out, Dave’s 18 years old and he enlists as a cook. He’s sent to Germany to cook for 2,000 troops. He’s honorably discharged and in 1953 he goes back to his old job in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That’s where Colonel Sanders crosses his path. It was just a couple of years later, Harland Sanders walks into the restaurant where this little adopted boy was the head cook, and the Clauss family were the owners of this restaurant. At first with 1,008 others, the Clauss family said, ‘No thank you” to Colonel Sanders, no, we don’t need your chicken.’ But Sanders as usual was persistent and eventually they agreed to the KFC franchise. It blossomed, many KFC franchises through the Midwest, and Dave worked with Colonel Sanders on many projects to make the franchise profitable.”

“The reason why I’m telling you this story? Well, is it because of this little adopted boy, the point of the story is because of him, we know who Colonel Sanders is because he’s the one who said, ‘You have got to be in your own television commercials.’ You’ve got to be the one that says ‘it’s finger‑lickin’ good.’ It was him that convinced him. Am I telling you the story because of that contribution? Or because he’s the guy who said, ‘You should put it in a bucket.’ He was the guy who said, ‘You should put it in a bucket.'”

“When four of the family’s KFCs in Columbus were failing, this guy was sent to turn them around. He did. By this time he had shares in KFC. He turned them around to the point to where they were so successful that in 1968 he sold them back to Harland Sanders for $1.5 million. Think of that, in 1968. That was ‑‑ remember when $1.5 million was a lot of money? That was an incredible sum of money.”

“A year later, in 1969 ‑‑ remember 1953 he’s just a ‑‑ he’s a cook for the Army. In 1969 he decides to go out on his own and he decides he wants to do an old‑fashioned hamburger joint in Columbus, Ohio. He named it after his daughter Wendy. It was successful. He opened more. Eventually one became ten, then hundreds and now thousands. In 1982 Dave Thomas, the little adopted kid, retired from the day‑to‑day operations, but in 1985 with lagging sales and poor decisions made by management, he was coaxed into coming back to save the company, which he did. In ’89 he took his own advice that worked so well for Colonel Sanders and he became the face of Wendy’s. He appeared in every single Wendy’s TV commercial from then on until his death in 2002, over 800 commercials. Wendy no longer was the face of the restaurant, but Dave Thomas was.”

“Despite being one of the most successful businessmen in the country, Dave Thomas had a regret. Remember he started moving around with his father at 15. He never graduated from high school. So in 1993, one of the most successful businessmen in America, fast food tycoon went back to Coconut Creek High School near his home and got his GED. When he died in 2002 at the age of 70, there were 6,000 Wendy’s operating in North America alone. Later that year President Bush awarded Dave Thomas the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

The only thing Obama has built is more debt, devastation and destruction from his progressive communist ideology and insanity.

Americans built America; one person, one family, one business, one job, one investment and one dream at a time in our history. We are a nation of exceptionalism; in which to dream and pursue it until it happens is the normal.

Obama is the exception; he is the communist and needs to be fired.

JEWHAWK

America needs more people like you BADLY. Thank you for this wonderful post !

I will say this to Obama; I have built three businesses in my life and lost them to storm, fire and bad choices; I have founded a church and helped groups build so many other non-profit agencies to help in the community.

You mean the Obama who said he would cut un-employment in half, that this GM plant will be here 100 years from now, I will cut our debt spending by half, that I will create millions of shovel ready jobs, etc., etc.

Anonymous

Meg-
Glenn does not have to edit, twist, or misquote a thing. Glenn only quotes the truth, of which none of it is slanderous. The American people deserve to know the truth, and that is something that has been missing for a while.

Dear Glenn is the most truthful person, probably in the world. Do you get paid by Obama with our tax dollars or George Soros to spread this indigent crap? Now go back to your basement.

Anonymous

What has Glenn Beck edited, twisted, and misquoted. He gave you what the President has stated WORD FOR WORD, lol. You do know what word for word means, don’t you?

James Harold Edwards

Snowleopard, I read alot of these comments and I knew from your character that you where a Christian.
I Honestly Beleive GOD is waiting for us to do this:

2Ch 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Anonymous

Another story based on a lie.
Once again, glenn beck will edit, twist and misquote anything the President says in order to make slanderous remarks.
What a fricking dink!!!

Listen to the full clip of Obama on this matter, there is no editing or clipping. The president said what he said, and people can’t seem to understand that he REALLY said what he said! “IF YOU HAVE A BUSINESS, YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT”…..Are we really suppose to pretend that he didn’t say that exact quote?

Anonymous

It’s obvious, when you listen to what he said in context, that he was referring to the infrastructure that businesses use, not to the businesses themselves. To pretend otherwise is just playing “gotcha” politics.

Anonymous

No. Actually, it’s obvious that he actually WAS talking about the businesses themselves. To pretend otherwise is just playing “gotcha” politics, lol.

Anonymous

Read the whole thing in context. It is so clear he was talking about the ways that group and individual efforts combine to produce success that your opinion is unsupportable.

Anonymous

Unlike you, I actually HAVE seen the whole thing in context. That is why my opinion is the ONLY supportable one. It was clear, by the context of Obama’s statements that he meant the GOVERNMENT built it. Any and ALL opinions to the contrary are unsupportable simply by the fact that Obama’s OWN words prove otherwise. You, apparently, have NO clue what context is. Always a liberal. Support Obama by any means, no matter how much those means either contradict or TOTALLY ignore reality, lol. More proof why liberalism is a mental disorder.

Anonymous

The context has to do with how people help each other by building things that connect us and allow businesses to be successful. Before and after the statement at issue, he specifies road, bridges and the internet, i.e. infrastructure that we depend on. He’s simply pointing out the obvious – that no man is an island. Shouldn’t be controversial at all. That you and other partisans somehow choose not to see that is unfortunate, but I’ve seen it before.

Anonymous

Myself and other partisans only see it for what Obama actually said in his own words, lol. Myself and other partisans actually take the context of Obama’s actual words into account, unlike you. Before and after the statement at issue, he specifies that without government businesses could not be built.

It SHOULD be controversial because NO ONE who actually built a business from the ground up would take his words seriously. That you and other liberal morons choose not to see what Obama ACTUALLY SAID is unfortunate, but I’ve seen your idiocy before.

Please. Look up context, ignoramus. It is clear from your idiotic fawning over Obama that you have absolutely NO clue what context actually means.

Anonymous

As you probably know, humans have a natural bias towards emotion over intellect. We tend to interpret reality in the way that makes us feel most comfortable, most secure within our cultural context. This is human nature. So, do you think you’re an exception? Have those on your side of the political divide found a way to remove the emotional blinders, while those on my side are too ignorant, too emotional or too dishonest to do the same? I’m interested in the key to your epistemological certitude. Please enlighten me.

Anonymous

Emotional blinders? lol Sorry, but I just look at the ACTUAL facts. It’s Obama’s OWN WORDS, for crying out loud. Those of us who actually saw and heard what he said actually know what he meant because it is what Obama ACTUALLY SAID IN HIS OWN WORDS. LOL You libs really are the fools you make yourselves out to be. Obama says it IN HIS OWN WORDS, and you still try to twist his words to fit your agenda. Apparently, you are the one with emotional blindness.

LOL This coming from a liberal who loves to twists Obama’s words to fit his agenda. Me, I just take Obama’s words as they are. That is what context actually means anyway.

Anonymous

Here: http://factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/
Go read about the context and stop indulging your Right-wing fantasies about how much you know. Your inability to admit the possibility of other valid interpretations is symptomatic of the Right’s intellectual sickness today. Not only do you not know what you don’t know, you aren’t interested in learning or even in having reasoned discussion. You mistake certitude, however uninformed, for strength, and strength for righteousness. In this case, even though most unbiased observers would find your interpretation tendentious at best, you mock those who see it differently. Playing aggressive offense when you’re position is so weak is a good way to fool yourself into thinking you’re winning a battle while you’re actually losing a war. It also subverts the values of the country your side claims to love so dearly. This is not personal to you; I don’t know you. But your foolish responses are typical of how the Right pollutes the dialogue our country so desperately needs to have. Go get an education, do the hard work, then you may have respect for others who see things differently. You’ll also be a better citizen.

Anonymous

LOL Seriously? Sorry, but I don’t have an inability to admit the possibility of other valid interpretations. You see, it is YOUR interpretation that is TOTALLY invalidated by Obama’s OWN statements.

Unlike you, I actually DO know what I know. Those unbiased observers you speak of would find YOUR interpretation tendentious, lol.

No, I do NOT mock those who see it differently. I mock those who don’t see it as it IS, period, according to Obama’s OWN words. Obama’s OWN words invalidate your point ENTIRELY, for crying out loud.

My position is NOT the weak ones. YOURS is. My position is based on WHAT OBAMA ACTUALLY SAID, lol, while your position is based on ONLY what you wish Obama said.

The ONLY one polluting the dialogue here is you. You are the one flat out LYING about Obama’s remarks, after all.

Seems to me YOU are the one who needs to go get an education seeing as you have no clue what context actually means, lol. Son, I actually HAVE done the hard work, unlike you, and I actually KNOW what Obama ACTUALLY SAID. You see, unlike you, I actually do respect others who see things differently. I just have no respect for people who see things, than flat out LIE about what they see just to fulfill some political agenda, which, my dimwitted friend, would be YOU.

And FactCheck.org. LOL And you expect to be taken seriously by citing FactCheck.org? Notice its banner, right under its name, where it says “A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center”. Guess who served on the Board of Directors and even was Chairman of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Oh, yeah, that’s right. It was Barack Hussein Obama. We seeing a picture here, lol. FactCheck.org needs to be fact checked itself, son, seeing as they are backed by an organization formerly run by Barack Obama himself. And you expect ME to do the hard work, son. Sorry. Been there. Done that. Get better material, please. All you’ve done here is indulge in your Left-wing fantasies about how much you ONLY think you know.

Now, please, I beg of you. Quit polluting the dialogue with your utter ignorance and get an education, please. You might just become an actual INTELLIGENT human being once you do, lol.

Hilarious, lol. Anyway, there’s a reason I don’t go to FactCheck.org for actual facts, lol. Like most other web sites, it has an extremely liberal slant. Sure, they appear to fact check the left at times, but they only appear to do so to keep up appearances as an unbiased source. For every story they have fact checking the left, they have about 10 to 20 stories outright bashing the right. That’s not exactly what I would call unbiased, lol.

And then there are the polls the left wingers are saying is the gospel truth. The truly don’t think for themselves do they.

Anonymous

Nope. They can’t think for themselves, lol. They are incapable of doing so. They have to cite their own liberal BS as truth. If only the actual facts didn’t always go against them, lol. I mean, I cringe every time I see someone cite factcheck.org. They are as liberal as Media Matters and MoveOn.org. Only thing that separates factcheck.org from other liberal sources is factcheck knows how to mask themselves a bit better. But one needs only look at their home page to see their very liberal bias.

I am going to start a new profile up so I don’t have someone who turned on me and bring out something up that I did not want out there. I thought I could trust her but I guess not. I am going to use one of the names I used when I came back here. Just to let you know that is me.

Interesting response. I’m “flat out lying”? Hmmm…isn’t the disagreement simply about what the President was referring to when he used the word “that”? I say he meant roads, bridges, internet, which he refers in the same speech. You say he meant an individual’s own business, also referred to. I think that, when taken in context, your position is preposterous and that you come to it through sheer bias. But I don’t question your sincerity. How could I? I don’t know you. Can you tell me why the same standards of judgment, not to mention civility, should not work in both directions? Do you claim to know what I’m thinking?
And, are you claiming Factcheck must be considered guilty of bias because one part of the Annenberg group’s prior association with Obama? Don’t you have to prove bias, in each instance, through empirical evidence? How about Politifact? http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/26/mitt-romney/putting-mitt-romneys-attacks-you-didnt-build-truth/ Also biased? Or simply wrong? Or is it, too, flat out lying?
The case you’ve made seems to provide another example of how the Right undermines attempts to gain understanding through dialogue. This is typical of what I encounter when I pose challenges to those who post on Beck’s site. This is one of the reasons why I post.
If you disagree, can you please advance your argument through the use of evidence and logic?
BTW, if you’re interested, I can tell you how the Right has come to its backwards and illogical views about MSM bias.

Anonymous

Nope. The disagreement is that I ACTUALLY USED OBAMA’S OWN WORDS and you are twisting Obama’s OWN words to fit your own beliefs, lol. When taken in context, YOUR position is preposterous and YOU came to it through sheer bias.

Factcheck is guilty of bias NOT just because of one part of the Annenberg group’s prior association with Obama. The ENTIRETY of the Annenberg Group IS a liberal, left leaning group. Even if Obama had NO part with them whatsoever, they are STILL a very liberally biased group. And I did prove bias with empirical evidence, that evidence being Obama’s previous association with the Annenberg Group and FactCheck.org’s OWN home page, lol. And politifact? Please. They’re even worse than factcheck. They don’t even try to hide their extreme liberal bias. Why, just look on the very first page of politifact for all the empirical evidence proving that. I mean, politifact only supports Obama on their OWN home page while at the same time totally attack Romney. How does that NOT scream bias to sane people. Get a clue, please, son.

And no, the case I made is NOT another example of how the Right undermines attempts to gain understanding through dialogue. It’s an example of how the Right ACTUALLY USES COLD HARD DOCUMENTED FACTS to explain the dialogue and how the left consistently undermines those COLD HARD DOCUMENTED FACTS with NOTHING but rhetoric and spin, kind of like YOU are doing right now. I HAVE used evidence and logic. You, however, have NOT. I used Obama’s OWN word. I used what Obama ACTUALLY STATED, lol, while you used ONLY what your delusion thought you heard. The logic you used is backwards because it TOTALLY IGNORES WHAT WAS ACTUALLY STATED AND WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING, lol.

And no. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY you can tell me how the Right has come to its backwards and illogical views about MSM bias simply because the Right has NOT come to backwards and illogical views about MSM bias. You see, the Right, including me no less, has proven using ACTUAL DOCUMENTED FACTS how biased the MSM really is. Why, I explained how biased FactCheck is using the extremely liberal Annenberg Group that funds it. There is NOTHING backwards or illogical about that view of MSM bias seeing as it is based on ACTUAL REAL WORLD FACTS, lol.

So far, the only views you’ve shown to be backwards and illogical are your own. Keep going. Keep proving how stupid you are. Only hurts you, you know.

The Right has come to backwards and illogical views about MSM bias? LOL That’s a good one. A little news flash son. Independents in this country have the SAME EXACT views as the right when it comes to MSM bias. You know why that is? It’s called REALITY. It’s called the TRUTH. The Rights’ views on MSM bias could NEVER be backwards and illogical seeing as those very views are actually based on REAL WORLD LOGIC, lol. You really are a stupid simpleton, aren’t you?

Anonymous

You didn’t respond to my questions about accusations of lying, which was the gist of what I wrote. Are you saying I’m consciously stating what I know to be untrue? What about others on my side of the discussion? Seriously, I’m interested in your take on this. If we’re all dishonest/stupid, how do you account for political divisions that so neatly align with a disparity in intelligence/morality?

BTW, “context”, literally, means the words surrounding the specific word or phrase in question, rather than the word or phrase itself. This is why the issue is what the President’s word “that” referred to. You don’t seem to understand the basis for the discussion, which is why you keep repeating yourself and using CAPS. Figuratively, context is the forest that puts the tree into a larger picture from which we may draw more general conclusions.

Also, association with an individual does not constitute empirical evidence of general, let alone specific, bias. Again, there are standards to which both sides in a debate must adhere. I’m simply trying to make you aware that your arguments do not meet these standards.

Anonymous

Uhm, you appear to have reading comprehension issues here. Though, I’m not surprised, you being a liberal after all, lol. Oh, and son, it is YOUR arguments that do not meet those standards. You see, my arguments are based on DOCUMENTED FACTS and REAL WORLD logic. Whereas, your arguments are based on NOTHING but conjecture, lies, and faulty logic, lol. You know not what those debate standards are as you do NOT follow them yourself.

And YES, I actually DID respond to your question, lol. Those darn reading comprehension problems of yours and all. I couldn’t have made myself any clearer by calling you a liar.

By the way, it is YOU who doesn’t seem to understand the basis of the discussion as the context of Obama’s OWN STATEMENT proves quite clearly that he was talking about the GOVERNMENT building those businesses. The context of his speech was all about how without GOVERNMENT those businesses would not have been possible. So, try again, ignoramus. Again, you prove just how much you do NOT understand the meaning of the word context at all.

And actually, YES. Association with a specific individual actually DOES constitute empirical evidence of BOTH general AND specific bias. The Annenberg Group funds factcheck.org. Obama was once chairman of the Annenberg Group. Therefor, by mere association with Obama, the Annenberg Group and the factcheck.org organization they fund have a bias TOWARD Obama. Pure logic man. Don’t know where you’ve been, but that’s how ACTUAL REAL WORLD logic actually works, lol. Let’s not forget the fact that the Annenberg Group is an extremely liberally biased group even if we take Obama’s association with them out of the picture entirely, lol. Don’t know what more empirical evidence you need beyond that, but that’s all any sane, intellectual, THINKING human being needs. You obviously aren’t sane, intellectual, or thinking though.

Met both Sanders and Dave great people. Why are you so hateful to hear stories of success like all the Governors at the RNC who succeeded in turning their States in-the-red budgets around.
RNC = the stories of Winners
DNC = the stories of Whiners

Anonymous

Meg-
My, my, here is strtlk again with his same old baloney. I would like to know what he drinks. It can’t be too good, with this kind of comments coming out.

We didn’t build the big government the big government built the big government and then made the universe and Michael Moore said it was good. The gospel according to Obama.

Anonymous

Democrats spend 95% of there time figuring out how to be dishonest with the public while Republicans spend the same amount of time being honest.

new2la

Incredible story Glenn, thank you for sharing. Obama isn’t an American son; we can’t expect him to understand!

new2la

Czech Republic as published in the Prager Zeitung of April 28 2011.”The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting an inexperienced man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of Idiots such as those who made him their president.”

I have had this for months; don’t know where it came from but saved it for obvious reasons.I found it an interesting analysis.

Jordon McKee

I’ve given dozens and dozens of comments talking on this same point. Only half of this country knows, understands, and/or wants freedom. That is what has caused so many of our problems over the past century and what will continue to give us men like Obama as our leaders. If not Obama then someone else. It will take a great awakening of our nation to fix our problems, not just a good leader.

new2la

Is it the DNC or DNA of ghosts from the past, come to haunt us for our beliefs?

JEWHAWK

What a beautiful story ! This is what America was, is and always should be, a place where one could do well without kissing some powerful politician’s behind. That’s the America people all over the world admires and more than often, envies.

http://twitter.com/atroussov Tony Troussov

strtlk
Boy you definitely have too much time on your hands. Like a typical lib.

http://www.facebook.com/sricchezza Shanna Ricchezza

I started my own bussiness this year, am wondering when the other people who started it are going to start working.